Within the scholarly investigation of the presence and function of a covenant theology in the Joh... more Within the scholarly investigation of the presence and function of a covenant theology in the Johannine writings, a lacuna exists in regard to its association to the divine kinship relations that are present in the foreground of the gospel. This study has attempted to fill this lacuna in a twofold manner. First, it investigates, exposes, and formulates the meaning of key Old Testament covenant texts, both secular and divine, with the aim of determining their orientation to kinship relations. It concludes that covenants, at any level (individual, tribal, international; either secular or divine), utilized kinship language to disclose that blood kinship relations (and their consequent obligations) have been extended across family lines to non-relatives (that is, ‘kinship-by-covenant’). Secondly, this study demonstrates that this ‘kinship-by-covenant’ rule is employed as a formative and controlling principle in the Gospel of John with respect to how Jesus, and through him the Father, relates and guides his community of disciples. It holds that in the actions and discourses of his final meal narrated in John 13–17, Jesus has established the new covenant with his eschatologically gathered community and, in doing so, has formed a divine kinship relation with them grounded in familial obligations. They are the definitive covenantal children of God.
Within the scholarly investigation of the presence and function of a covenant theology in the Joh... more Within the scholarly investigation of the presence and function of a covenant theology in the Johannine writings, a lacuna exists in regard to its association to the divine kinship relations that are present in the foreground of the gospel. This study has attempted to fill this lacuna in a twofold manner. First, it investigates, exposes, and formulates the meaning of key Old Testament covenant texts, both secular and divine, with the aim of determining their orientation to kinship relations. It concludes that covenants, at any level (individual, tribal, international; either secular or divine), utilized kinship language to disclose that blood kinship relations (and their consequent obligations) have been extended across family lines to non-relatives (that is, ‘kinship-by-covenant’). Secondly, this study demonstrates that this ‘kinship-by-covenant’ rule is employed as a formative and controlling principle in the Gospel of John with respect to how Jesus, and through him the Father, relates and guides his community of disciples. It holds that in the actions and discourses of his final meal narrated in John 13–17, Jesus has established the new covenant with his eschatologically gathered community and, in doing so, has formed a divine kinship relation with them grounded in familial obligations. They are the definitive covenantal children of God.
Uploads
Papers
Books
Teaching Documents